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This refers to approaches to teaching with technology where the students themselves use their personal devices, rather than the school or college providing the technology being used (e.g. teaching in a computer lab). This approach has many advantages including:

The student’s relationship with the device is different. Rather than viewing the technology as alien and imposed, it is technology they already associate themselves with and even find pleasurable to use.

The student is already familiar with how their device works so the teaching can concentrate on the topic rather than instructing how to use the technology.

There are challenges too. As the devices owned will vary, the approach taken must be flexible and work on many platforms.

An objection to the utilisation of a BYOD device approach is that some students will not have a device and will therefore be unable to participate and will feel ostracised. George Coros looks at this argument in his post Inequity and BYOD and highlights that this is not a reason to take this approach but that these students should be provided with appropriate devices by their schools and colleges for these sessions, and that this is a much better approach than the traditional computer lab model.